Both the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers punched their tickets to the second round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs on Thursday night.
The Knicks, visiting the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 6, held off their rivals in a 118-115 thriller. Jalen Brunson scored 41 points on 13-for-27 shooting, to go along with 12 assists. The 76ers’ Joel Embiid, meanwhile, scored 39 points on 12-for-25 and pulled down 13 rebounds. All five Knick starters finished in double figures, with Donte DiVincenzo scoring 23 (including five three-pointers), OG Anunoby 19 points and 9 rebounds, Josh Hart 16 points, 14 rebounds, and 7 assists, and Isaiah Hartenstein 14 points and 9 rebounds. Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 17 for the 76ers, while Buddy Hield contributed 20 points off the bench and Nic Batum 16.
The Pacers, once again facing an undermanned Milwaukee Buck team, disposed of their division rival, 120-98. The Pacers got a complete team effort with six players in double-figures. Obi Toppin led in scoring with 21, and TJ McConnell scored 20. Pascal Siakam (19 points), Tyrese Haliburton (17 points, 10 assists), Aaron Nesmith (15 points) and Andrew Nembhard (14 points) led the starting group. For the Pacers, the series win was a build off of their In-Season Tournament Final appearance that many people thought was a fluke. To get to that final, they defeated the Bucks 128-119.
The Bucks’ season result (a team that going in had Finals’ aspirations) is a disappointing one but one that should be looked at with perspective as their best player in Giannis Antetokounmpo missed the entire series. Bobby Portis and Brook Lopez scored 20 apiece in Game 6, while Khris Middleton was just 6-for-15 for 14 points. Damian Lillard led with 28, but shot just 7-for-16 and 4- for-12 from
three-point range.
The Bucks’ disappointment lies more with Lillard, who was gunning for a championship in Milwaukee after not contending in Portland. That, though, will have to wait another year.
The Knicks were 1-2 against the Pacers during the regular season, with losses by scores of 140-126 and 125-111. The lone Knick win was a four-point victory, 109-105, in which Brunson scored 40 points. Brunson achieved a lot of significant feats in the first round. He matched Bernard King for number of consecutive playoff games in team history with at least 40 points (four), while becoming just the seventh player in league history to register 40 points in at least three consecutive games. His 35.5 point, 9.0 assist per game averages in the first round join Luka Doncic and Russell Westbrook as the only players in history to average such numbers in a series, and he is just the third player in history with four straight playoff games of 35-plus points and 5-plus assists, joining Michael Jordan and LeBron James.
On Indiana’s side, Tyrese Haliburton is a fascinating counter to Brunson. Haliburton is not as offensively inclined, but is cut out of more of the pure point guard mold of facilitator first. On December 30 against the Knicks, he scored 22 points and dished out an incredible 23 assists. He registered 15 points and 5 assists and 22 points and 12 assists in his two other games vs. the Knicks this season.
Haliburton led the league’s best offense in 2023-2024, one that averaged 123.3 points per game. The Pacers also led the league as a team in field-goal percentage at 50.7. The Knicks, meanwhile, allowed 108.2 points per game, second fewest in the league, and their point differential of +4.5 was fifth-best.
With a tremendous clash of styles, the series figures to be a very entertaining and competitive one. Nembhard shoots 35.7 percent from three, while Nesmith’s 41.9 percent from three on 4.6 attempts per game is pretty impressive. The Knicks have their own shooters in DiVincenzo and Miles McBride. Brunson can knock triples down, too.
Siakam and Anunoby is a battle of former Toronto Raptor teammates, both very capable defenders (Anunoby more so), while Siakam is the better scorer and slasher. Turner holds the interior edge over Hartenstein.
The coaching matchup is one of two basketball veterans in Tom Thibodeau and Rick Carlisle. Thibodeau is a big time motivator, while Carlisle is very strategic. The pace of the Pacers and the grittiness of the Knicks is a fine contrast, and Thibodeau’s players will be tested in that he likes to play his starters and stars major minutes. The Knicks, as the second seed in the East, get home court.
Both teams have faced off 41 times in the postseason, with the Pacers holding a 22-19 advantage. The last matchup was the 2013 Eastern Conference Semifinals, a 4-2 Pacers’ series win.
Who can forget Reggie Miller’s choke gesture to Spike Lee in Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals where Miller scored 25 points in the final quarter? Or his eight points in nine seconds in Game 1 of the 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals?
Despite winning Game 5 in ‘94, the Knicks won the series in 7. After the Pacers took Game 1 in ‘95, the Knicks won by 19 in Game 2. The Pacers took three of the next five to win the series in seven.
The teams also met in the ‘98, ‘99, and 2000 playoffs. ‘98 was 4-1, Pacers. ‘99 was 4-2, Knicks (Larry Johnson’s 4-point play in Game 3). 2000 was 4-2, Pacers. This time around? In 2024?
Knicks in 7.
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